Socio-psychological works occupy one of the most important places in Russian literature, because thanks to such works, the reader can not only reflect on his place in life, history, think about what the meaning of existence is, but also receive a strong motivation to fight, to show heroism. , win.

Analyzing Turgenev's "Notes of a Hunter" cycle, we will be convinced that this artistic work belongs to the series of works mentioned above. However, we will begin the analysis of the cycle by getting to know the author’s childhood and family, because such details will help us understand what prompted him to start writing this wonderful collection.

Briefly about Turgenev's family and his childhood

So, as we noted, it is very important to first understand what views on life the author held and what his thinking was based on. Only after that it is worth reading the collection itself and, moreover, analyzing it.

The family of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev was wealthy, his parents were nobles. However, in marriage, the father and mother were not happy. The father, in the end, abandoned the family, and the children remained in the care of the mother. Although the family did not need anything financially, young Ivan Turgenev was very worried and his childhood turned out to be difficult. In addition, his mother was brought up in such a way that her character can be called complex, although she read a lot and was significantly enlightened in various matters. Unfortunately, Turgenev's mother not only physically punished her children, but also treated the serfs harshly.

This historical background helps a lot to more accurately analyze the "Notes of a Hunter" cycle, since we understand that the love for Russian literary works was instilled in young Ivan Sergeevich by Varvara Petrovna, who helped her son fall in love with such writers as: Gogol, Pushkin, Lermontov, Zhukovsky and Karamzin.

Serfdom in the "Notes of a Hunter"

In addition to his mother, his valet, who was a serf, had a great influence on the formation of the future writer. It must be said that, in general, the theme of the peasants was of great interest to Ivan Sergeevich. He saw a lot with his own eyes, he changed his mind a lot. The serfs were constantly in sight of the child, and living a village life, Turgenev watched the enslavement of the common people, the bullying and hard life of ordinary workers and farmers.

When Turgenev grew up, he constantly traveled around the country, continued to observe how the serfs live and work. And this is a key detail in the analysis of the "Hunter's Notes" cycle, because thanks to these factors, Turgenev decided to write a collection of short stories, which we are talking about now.

Why did Turgenev call the cycle that way?

I must say that the author himself was a passionate hunter. Sometimes Turgenev was carried away for many days by his favorite business, and for many kilometers with a gun in his hands and a hunting bag on his back he chased game. And how many times have they walked around the Tula, Oryol, Tambov, Kaluga and Karsk provinces! What did these campaigns and travels give him? Of course, the author of "Notes of a Hunter" made acquaintance with many people, most of whom were the simplest peasants. They shared their impressions with him, talked about their native lands, advised something.

We are currently analyzing the "Hunter's Notes" cycle, so we are talking about what formed the basis of its content. Yes, Turgenev did not hesitate to communicate with ordinary people, with the poor and ordinary farmers. He looked at them not as slaves, but as the same people. He did not separate them by position, and he wanted the society to be just like that.

And so the cycle "Notes of a Hunter" was born, which included Turgenev's stories about what he managed to see and hear. But most importantly, the idea of ​​the unity of the people and the desire to equalize people in society on a social basis are clearly seen in the thread of the story. Pay attention, for example, to who was chosen by the author as the prototype of the main character. This is a hunting companion - a simple peasant Athanasius.

Important details of the "Hunter's Notes" analysis

The year of publication of "The Hunter's Notes" as an independent work of art is 1852. The collection includes twenty-five stories, some of which can be called essays. And in each of them new events develop, each has its own heroes. But the theme of Russian nature runs like a red thread through all the stories - how much you need to love it and those people who live on this earth.

The cycle is distinguished by a striking original author's style. Everything is described in simple and concise language. Turgenev practically does not give his assessment of what is happening, does not dramatize events and omits the lyrics. The spirit of the collection is true realism, and Turgenev writes especially about the tragedy of the serfs, and he will not hide from the reader how painful it is for the author to look at the suffering of the common people. He exalts and deeply respects the simple Russian peasant with a noble soul and high morals.

Thanks to the fact that we have analyzed the "Hunter's Notes" cycle, you can better understand the essence of the work, the author's intention and its main theme. We hope the article was useful to you. Read also

In an era when the moral principles and convictions of Turgenev were taking shape, when Turgenev was being formed as a citizen, the question of emancipating the peasants from serfdom was already coming to the fore. Gradually, voices were heard louder and louder, first hinting at the need for such a reform, then advising its introduction, and then directly demanding such a reform. Turgenev turned all his efforts against the most shameful phenomenon of Russian life - serfdom.

Turgenev is an excellent painter of the Russian world, and the plan conceived by him, passing with a hunter's knapsack through various places and nooks and crannies of Russia, to acquaint us with many people and characters, was a complete success. We see this in the "Notes of a hunter".

What is the history of the creation of the cycle of stories "Hunter's Notes"? The first stories from this cycle saw the light at the end of the 40s of the 19th century, at a time when the foundations of serfdom were firmly held. The power of the noble landowner was not limited by anything, was not controlled. As a man, Turgenev saw in serfdom the highest injustice and cruelty; because of this, both mind and heart Turgenev hated serfdom, which for him was, in his own words, a personal enemy. He gave himself the famous "Annibal's oath" never to lay down arms against this enemy. The fulfillment of this oath was the "Notes of a Hunter", which are not only a socially significant work, but also have great merits from a literary and artistic point of view.

In 1852, The Hunter's Notes were first published as a separate edition.

What was the main goal pursued by I.S. Turgenev about the creation of this work? The main goal of the Hunter's Notes is to denounce serfdom. But the author approached the realization of his goal in an original way. The talent of the artist and thinker suggested to Turgenev that the focus should not be on extreme cases of cruelty, but on living images. It is in this way that the artist will reach out to the Russian soul, to Russian society. And he managed to do it to the fullest. The effect of the work of art was complete, amazing.

"Notes of a Hunter" is a cycle of 25 stories, otherwise they are called essays, from the life of serfs and landowners. In some stories, the author "revenges" his enemy (serfdom) very carefully, in others he completely forgets about the enemy, and remembers only the poetry of nature, the artistry of everyday paintings. It should be noted that there are many stories of this kind. Of the twenty-five stories, one can see a direct protest against serfdom in the following: “Yermolai and the Miller”, “Burgeon”, “Lgov”, “Two Landowners”, “Pyotr Petrovich Karataev”, “Date”. But even in these stories this protest is expressed in a delicate form, it is such an insignificant element along with the purely artistic elements of the stories. In the rest of the stories, no protest is heard; they illuminate the aspects of the landlord and peasant life.

The main theme of The Hunter's Notes is the fate of the peasantry in the era of serfdom. Turgenev showed that serfs are also people, that they are also at the mercy of complex mental processes, they are characterized by a multifaceted moral life.

The main idea of ​​the "Notes of a Hunter" is "the idea of ​​human dignity", of humanity. Serfdom is evil, it separated the peasants by an impassable abyss from the rest of human society, from intellectual culture in general. The peasant had to seek, by his own efforts and in his own environment, the satisfaction of the vital needs of the human soul. Around - people either indifferent or hostile to him. Next to him are the same "humiliated and insulted" as he himself. Anyone who, in any way, in his abilities and natural inclinations, stood out above the dark environment, must have felt a deep, painful loneliness. There is no one to take the soul with, no one to believe the deep feelings invested so inopportunely in the heart of a serf.

What is the characteristic feature of this large-scale work of Turgenev? First of all, it is necessary to note the complete realism of the "Hunter's Notes". This realism forms the basis of Turgenev's work. On the just instructions of Belinsky, Turgenev would not have been able to artistically describe a character that he did not meet in reality. Such a warehouse of creativity made it possible for Turgenev to reveal the universal essence of the peasant soul and draw two main peasant types: Khorya and Kalinich. In the story "Bezhin Meadow" he pointed out the same two main types in the children's environment: Pavlusha - the future Khor, Vanya - Kalinich. Having portrayed the peasantry and the landlord environment in a comprehensive manner, Turgenev took a major step forward towards realism, in comparison with the greatest of the realists who preceded him - Gogol. But Gogol saw reality in its own refraction. Turgenev, on the other hand, knew how to consider the same reality from all sides, and his life unfolds in its entirety. And with such a complete, comprehensive coverage of life, Turgenev shows perfect objectivity in the "Notes of a Hunter".

The Hunter's Notes does not, however, represent a direct attack on serfdom, but deal it a severe blow indirectly. Turgenev depicted evil as such, not with the explicit purpose of fighting it, but because he saw it as disgusting, outrageous to the sense of human dignity. The consequence of his realism and objectivity is the depiction in the "Notes of a Hunter" types of positive and negative, attractive and repulsive, both in the peasant environment and in the landowners. At the same time, Turgenev needed to have a high degree of observation. Such observation was noted in Turgenev by Belinsky, who wrote that Turgenev's talent is to observe phenomena and convey them, passing through his fantasy, but not relying only on fantasy.

Thanks to his powers of observation, Turgenev described to the smallest detail his characters and their appearance, both moral and external, in everything that was characteristic of them both in clothes and in a manner of expression and even in gestures.

"Notes of a hunter" have a high artistic merit. They represent a complete and vivid picture of Russian life, depicted as it flowed before the author. And this truthful picture led the reader to the idea of ​​injustice and cruelty prevailing in relation to the people. A major artistic merit of the "Notes of a Hunter", in addition to their impartiality, lies in the completeness of the picture drawn in them. All types of Russia contemporary to Turgenev are covered, both attractive and repulsive faces are outlined, both peasants and landowners are characterized.

The outward merit of the "Hunter's Notes" is the power of influence that they have on the reader, thanks to the language in which they are written, and, especially, the liveliness and beauty of the descriptions. As an example of such descriptions, we can point to the scene of the singing of Yakov the Turk; the reader, together with the author, experiences everything that this singing inspired in the listeners, and one cannot help but succumb to the poetic charm of the memories of the swan, inspired by the singing of Yakov. No less poetic and powerful in their impact on the reader's soul are the descriptions found in the stories "Dating", "Bezhin Meadow", "Forest and Steppe".

All the merits of the "Notes of a Hunter" as a work of art, in connection with the highly humane ideas that imbued the stories, ensured their lasting success not only among Turgenev's contemporaries, but also among subsequent generations.

Analysis of the cycle of stories by I.S. Turgenev "Notes of a hunter"

There are books in the history of literature that express whole epochs not only in the development of literature and art, but also of the entire social consciousness. Among these books are the "Notes of a Hunter" by I.S. Turgenev.

In this collection of short stories, the unifying figure is the "hunter", the storyteller-writer, a nobleman by social status. The "Hunter" does not so much reveal the theme of the book as disguises it: he simply talks about what happened to him, what he saw and remembered - that's all; he does not seem to think at all about the fact that what is being discussed now, in this essay, is somehow connected with what he told earlier. But Turgenev does not forget this: by comparing, juxtaposing, systematizing, he develops a theme of such scope that only Gogol before him dared to speak aloud. This is the main difference between the hunter-narrator and the author.

In "Notes" Turgenev often resorts to the method of juxtaposing times - old and new. The author's assessment of the old is clear - it was a century of noble revelry, extravagance,depravity and arrogant arbitrariness. And the author reflects on the nobility of the new century on the pages of this book.

The picture of noble morals created by Turgenev inevitably raises the question for readers: how can people who have received some kind of education still enjoy their inhuman rights, live in this poisoned atmosphere of tyranny and slavery? A staunch realist, Turgenev was well aware of the power of commitment to convenience and comfort, the power that the most ordinary habits have over a person, and how closely each person is connected with his environment. But he knew that different people relate to life differently and that a person's position in life also depends on the properties of his nature.

If you look closely at all these prosperous representatives of the nobility - the Polutykins, Penochkins, Korolevs, Stegunovs, Khvalynskys, Shtoppels, Zverkovs, dignitaries, princes and counts, then one cannot fail to notice one common feature: they are all mediocre, people with a miserable mind and frail feelings. Insignificant people, they are capable of appreciating in others only brute force, no matter how it manifests itself - in bureaucratic arbitrariness or in the whims of wealth, in whims, arrogance or in the intricacies of meanness. Everything that went beyond the boundaries of their creeping understanding, they pursue.

Arkady Pavlovich Penochkin enjoys respect in a noble society: "Ladies are crazy about him and especially praise his manners." And Pyotr Petrovich Karataev, while he was "swaggering" and squandered his estate, if he was not among the respected members of the local nobility, then he did not attract his condemning attention. But as soon as he fell in love with the serf girl Matryona, everything immediately changed. "The sleepy and vicious boredom of the idle nobility" showed itself! Mrs. Marya Ilyinichna, having learned that Karataev wanted to buy Matryona from her because he loves her, did not miss the opportunity to amuse her tyrannical soul: “I don’t like it; you don't want to, and that's it." A sincere feeling, and even for a servant - she could not forgive this. Society approved it, but Karataev was condemned and eventually thrown out of its ranks.

But the pictures of intra-noble relations, for all their expressiveness, played a subordinate role in the "Notes of a Hunter": they were needed insofar as they helped to investigate the main guilt of the nobility - the guilt before the people.

Belinsky explained the success of “Khorya and Kalinich” (the first of the published stories) by the fact that in this essay Turgenev “came to the people from the side from which no one had approached him before. Khor, with his practical sense and practical nature, with his rough, but strong and clear mind ... - the type of Russian peasant who knew how to create a meaningful position for himself under very unfavorable circumstances.

It was worth taking a closer look at Khor to make it immediately clear how much this illiterate peasant surpasses his master Polutykin precisely in intellectual terms and, therefore, talk about noble guardianship over the peasant is so senseless and false. Khor treats Polutykin with barely hidden contempt, because he “saw through” him, that is, he understood how worthless he was, and not because he wore European clothes and kept “French” cuisine. Khor did not experience any fear of the foreign.

The result of Turgenev’s observations on Khor’s personality is expressive: “From our conversations, I took out one conviction, which readers probably do not expect in any way - the conviction that Peter the Great was predominantly a Russian person, Russian precisely in his transformations. The Russian man is so sure of his strength and strength that he is not averse to breaking himself: he is little concerned with his past and boldly looks forward. What is good, then he likes, what is reasonable, give it to him, but where it comes from, he does not care.

The conclusion suggests itself: the only help that the smart and practical Hori really needed was in liberation from the Polutykins, that is, in liberation from serfdom. That is why Belinsky paid special attention to this essay.

Turgenev explored the corrupting influence of landlord power on all aspects of life. He paid special attention to the fact that serfdom literally disfigured the peasant's attitude to work.

Life next to the landowner engendered in the serfs not only a sense of dull obedience. From generation to generation, the master was accustomed to seeing a man of special destiny and even breed, his life was considered something like an embodied ideal. This invariably aroused a feeling of admiration for the masters. It made itself felt more strongly among the serfs; it was in it that lackeys were most often encountered - not only by position. Such, for example, as the valet Victor from the story "Date". The very soul of servility was embodied in him.

The tense atmosphere in the village is clearly shown in the story "Biryuk". Driven to the extreme, the chopping man went from plaintive requests to open furious indignation somehow suddenly; neither the hunter nor Biryuk expected anything like this. And yet, the most unexpected thing was that Biryuk let the chopper go and, most importantly, how he let him go. He did this not at all because he was afraid of the men's threats. Foma Biryuk changed his mind a lot, listening to the complaints and reproaches of the peasant he had caught; did not his loyalty to his master, who eats peasants, seem shameful to him; didn’t he now think that his wife had run away with the tradesman, leaving her children, because she was sick of the “master’s bread” given out to him for privet fidelity? Most likely, Biryuk will again diligently hunt down the choppers; but it may also happen that these guesses of his will not be forgotten, and then it will no longer be possible to vouch for not only the safety of the landowner's forest land, but also for his life.

The Hunter's Notes convinced the reader of the need to abolish serfdom as the basis of the entire social system in Russia. Turgenev all his life firmly held to the conviction that issues of social existence, even the most complex ones, can only be resolved according to the laws of reason, which is the crown of modern civilization.

Inexhaustible treasures of the national spirit were found in the poetic talent of the Russian people. And in order to get an idea of ​​this dignity of the national character, it was not necessary to look for especially prominent people: to one degree or another, it was inherent in the vast majority of peasants - young and old.

The consciousness of the enslaved peasantry, its morals were full of contradictions and contrasts. Dreams of freedom and worship of the master's power, protest and humility, rebelliousness and servility, worldly sharpness and complete lack of initiative, spiritual talent and indifference to one's own fate - all these properties existed side by side, often turning one into another. According to Turgenev himself, it was a "great social drama", and without understanding that this drama there is, Russia itself could not be understood. He did not just start the development of this topic. For many decades to come, he gave a measure of its complexity, identified its constituent contradictions. For this great book one could take as an epigraph the famous lines of Nekrasov:

You are poor

You are abundant

You are powerful

You are powerless

Mother Russia! -

if they had not been written a quarter of a century after the publication of The Hunter's Notes.

and Kalinich. Singers. Bezhin meadow.

1. Anti-serfdom theme in "Notes of a hunter".
2. Features of the Russian national character in the characters of the cycle.
3. Genre originality of stories.
4. Landscape and its role in stories.

The story "and Kalinich"- the first of the future cycle - appeared in the first issue of the Sovremennik magazine for 1847. It was the first issue prepared by the new owners of the magazine, Nekrasov and Panaev. Then the editors failed to appreciate Turgenev's story: it was printed in small print in the "Mixture" section with the subtitle "From the Notes of a Hunter" (thus the name of the cycle was suggested to Turgenev by the magazine). The great success of the story with readers inspired the author, and during 1847, while abroad, he wrote 13 more stories. Turgenev worked on the cycle from 1847 to 1851, and by 1852 he prepared a separate edition of the Hunter's Notes.

"Notes of a hunter" gives a picture of rural and estate life, reveals the relationship of landowners and serfs. But the close attention of contemporaries was primarily ensured by their anti-serf orientation. The authorities also reacted to their appearance, seeing in the stories a dangerous social trend. Nicholas I ordered the dismissal of the censor Prince, who missed the “Notes of a Hunter”, to be dismissed. Lvov "for negligent performance of his position." Turgenev was placed under police supervision. The social significance of the stories and essays of the cycle consisted not only in exposing the feudal landlords (one of the high-ranking officials said that the landlords "are generally presented in a funny and caricatured or, more often, in a form reprehensible to their honor"), but also in the depiction of peasant types . The author feels sympathy for people from the people, the plight of the Russian people arouses his sympathy.

"Hunter's Notes" antiserf work. Turgenev exposes serfdom as an ugly system that gives rise to cruel or worthless landowners, corrupts the soul, hinders the economic and spiritual development of Russia. The author himself defined the main idea of ​​the Hunter's Notes as follows: “I could not breathe the same air, stay close to what I hated ... In my eyes, this enemy had a certain image, bore a well-known name: this enemy was serfdom. Under this name, I collected and concentrated everything against which I decided to fight to the end, with which I swore never to reconcile ... "The stories are linked into a cycle by the unity of the ideological content and compositional device - the image of the narrator, passing through all the stories. The narrator is a hunter, a local landowner who knows his land well, and most importantly, is deeply interested in the life of the people he meets in his hunting wanderings.

"and Kalinich" is a program work of the cycle, in which its main ideas are outlined, the form of Turgenev's "hunting" story is tested. The plot in it is sketchy in nature: the place of action is accurately indicated and described - the Volkhov and Zhizdrinsky districts of the Oryol and Kaluga provinces. The arguments at the beginning of the story about the types of Oryol and Kaluga peasants, built on the principle of antithesis, as if not connected with the plot of the story, have not only an ethnographic, purely essay value. They set a topical social theme - the difference between corvée and quitrent peasantry. There is no event-driven development of the action in Chora and Kalinich. The story shows the meeting of the hero-narrator with the landowner Polutykin and his serfs Horem and Kalinich. The image of the narrator plays an active role in the story: the narrator comments on the behavior of the characters, expresses his attitude towards them. It is in a dialogue with him that socially significant typical characters are revealed. Sometimes minimal artistic means are enough to create a character for an author. So the character of Polutykin is quite definitely clarified by his surname - he is, indeed, a useless, stupid owner, a ruined landowner.

The main interest for the narrator is the peasants and Kalinich, whose comparative characteristics allow the author to reveal two types of the Russian peasant, to show different facets of the Russian national character. The images of the landowner and his serfs are contrasted: there is no direct conflict between them, but a deep difference in the moral world and life position is obvious. And not in favor of the landowner. Peasants are extraordinary people. One is an excellent practitioner, the other is a poetic nature. The journalistic beginning of the story - discussions about corvée and quitrent peasants - is developed in the images of the central characters.

- "a positive, practical person, an administrative head, a rationalist." He sought permission to switch to quitrent and, in fact, is economically independent. - the type of an intelligent, active, enterprising Russian person, able to boldly go towards the new, however, his capabilities are limited by the ugly serf system. In revealing the image of Khory, the main role is played by the author's descriptions of his estate, hut. Substantive details, the material world are expressive. They show the strength of his economy, reliability, stability of life, allow you to see in the Choir the creative creative principles of the Russian national character. The portrait of Khory significantly complements our understanding of him. In his figure, the author emphasizes solidity. This "shouldered and thick" man stands firmly on his feet. And the comparison of his face with the face of Socrates (“the same high, knobby forehead, the same small eyes, the same snub nose”) expresses respect and sympathy for the author and at the same time enhances the anti-serf pathos of the story. But this smart, strong man is in the position of a slave. This is the reality of Russian reality.

Kalinich- the complete opposite of Khoryu externally and internally. He is "a man of the most cheerful, most meek disposition", an exalted nature. Being completely dependent on the landowner, every day he must accompany him to hunt. He completely abandoned his own farm. Kalinich is close to nature, touching in his affection for Khor: he brought him a bunch of wild strawberries. Contrasting the heroes, the author sees in each of them remarkable features of the national character.

The story "Singers", written in the early 50s, combines essay and novelistic features. And although the narration is conducted on behalf of the narrator and contains essay elements, the plot of the story is based on an event. The competition of singers is the central part of the story. In the story, in addition to the main characters - Jacob the Turk and the hawker from Zhizdra - there are many other heroes that make up a picturesque multi-figured composition. Artistic means of revealing character are enriched. In addition to expressive portrait details, author's characteristics, Turgenev gives a story about the past of the heroes (such is the life story of Mogarych, Oboldui). The idea of ​​the characters deepens with the movement of the plot. The epic background of the main event carries an important ideological load.

Turgenev showed in the story an extraordinary Russian talent. The creative spiritual principle in the "best singer of the neighborhood" Yakov-Turk wins over the vocal skills of the self-confident row-cropper. Showing the listeners frozen in excitement, the narrator, as it were, merges with them and conveys in his words the experiences and feelings that engulfed everyone: “He sang, completely forgetting both his rival and all of us ... A Russian, truthful, ardent soul grabbed your heart , grabbed right by his Russian strings. The choice of song is significant. The song "Not one path in the field ran ..." is really in tune with the fate of the Russian people. It contains “youth, and strength, and sweetness, and some kind of captivatingly sad sorrow.”

Turgenev is a realist, he does not idealize the hero: in the final part of the story, the author sees an ugly general drunkenness. And Yakov, who had recently soared in spirit, shocked everyone with his marvelous singing, like everyone else, plunged into the darkness of heavy revelry. The writer does not avoid details that reduce the image of the hero: “He sat bare-chested on a bench and, singing in a hoarse voice some kind of dance, street song, lazily plucked and plucked the guitar strings. Wet hair hung in clumps over his strangely pale face. Nothing remained of his soulful excitement. The ugly reality has a destructive effect on the fate of talent in Russia, and this is yet another verdict on serfdom.

"Bezhin Meadow"- a poetic story about Russian nature and a child's soul. In this story, the sketchy beginning gives way to a lyrical narrative. Turgenev is interested in the moral world of people from the people. With great sympathy, the author recreates the images of five peasant boys who gathered around the fire on a July night and tell each other scary stories. Nature in Bezhin Meadow ceases to be the background of action, it becomes a means of indirect characterization of the characters. Pictures of summer nature, framing the story, are full of lyrical expressiveness and, as it were, inspire the characters of the boys. And their fantastic stories, legends, and beliefs are full of vivid imagery and poetry. The mysterious world of their fantasies, the world of nature and the real world merge into a single whole in the souls of the boys. The soul of the people, akin to nature, is poetic and mysterious.

In the "Notes of a Hunter" I.S. Turgenev acted as an artist of acute social anti-serfdom problems and revealed the features of the national character in living peasant types. The role of descriptions of nature in stories is great. Nature is a means of revealing the character, inner world and state of mind of the characters.